BALTIMORE (AP) -- Coming home after a shaky two-week road trip,

the Baltimore Orioles were eager to right themselves against the

lowly Houston Astros.

Nothing less than a sweep would do, and that's what they got.

Rodrigo Lopez pitched eight innings of four-hit ball, and

Baltimore made it three in a row over Houston with a 5-1 victory

Wednesday night.

Melvin Mora homered, Jay Gibbons had three hits and Brian

Roberts went 2-for-3 with two RBI for the Orioles, who outscored

Houston 19-7 in their first interleague sweep since July 1999,

against Montreal.

Baltimore had lost four of five to conclude a 6-7 road swing

before feasting on the Astros, who came to town with a five-game

winning streak and a 7-23 record on the road.

"There are certain times when you obviously need to win, and

this is one of those times," Roberts said. "We played OK on the

road, and then when you get home you need to win, especially if

you're playing teams that are kind of down and not really playing

as well as they would like."

That pretty much describes the Astros, who got a home run from

Jason Lane but did little else offensively in losing their sixth

straight interleague road game. Houston has scored one run or fewer

in 13 of its 33 road games, including the last two of this series.

"Once again we didn't get much going," said Houston's Craig

Biggio, who went 2-for-12 in the sweep.

The Astros totaled eight hits in the final two games and never

held the lead.

"The answer is to grind it out and get good at-bats," Houston

manager Phil Garner said. "Let's have a good game and see what

happens. Right now, I'd be happy with just one hit when we needed

it. Just put the ball in play when we have men on base."

That's what happened in the first inning, but a stellar

defensive play by Roberts at second base saved a run and enabled

the Orioles to take control in the bottom half.

With runners at the corners and two outs, Roberts went deep in

the hole to snare a grounder by Morgan Ensberg. While prone, he

unleashed a throw to first that beat the runner.

"That play kind of set the tone," Baltimore manager Lee

Mazzilli said.

Garner said, "Maybe if we had scored that run early, it would

have come out differently."

The Orioles went up 2-0 when Roberts hit a leadoff single and

Mora drove a fastball into the left-field seats for his 14th home

run.

Baltimore used an infield hit, a hit batter and a walk to load

the bases in the second inning for Roberts, who delivered a two-run

single to make it 4-0.

"That's what we have to do, score early. Then Rodrigo can be

more relaxed," Mora said.

Lopez (6-2) allowed one run, struck out seven and walked one in

winning his fourth straight decision. He's 4-1 in 10 starts since

April 21 -- the last day the Orioles were not in first place in the

AL East.

It was the 19th time this season that a Baltimore starter went

at least seven innings without giving up more than one earned run.

Todd Williams worked the ninth to complete the four-hitter.

Rookie Wandy Rodriguez (2-3) gave up four runs in the first two

innings, putting the Astros in a hole from which they could not

recover. The left-hander ended up allowing four runs, seven hits

and three walks in six innings.

Lopez retired 11 straight before Lane led off the fifth with his

10th home run on a 3-1 pitch. It was his second homer in the series

and fifth in 11 games this month.

After Baltimore loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh

against John Franco, Miguel Tejada hit a sacrifice fly off Dan

Wheeler for a 5-1 lead.Game notes
Houston turned a season-high four double plays. The Astros

ended the first three innings with 1-6-3 DPs, twice victimizing

Rafael Palmeiro. ... Houston's Willy Taveras went 0-for-4 and was

1-for-14 in the series. ... Baltimore OF Napoleon Calzado, who was

designated for assignment Monday, cleared waivers and was optioned

to Triple-A Ottawa.